A tense and combative exchange between Piers Morgan and former MSNBC host Joy Reid erupted this week during an interview on Piers Morgan Uncensored, offering a sharp look into the ideological and media divides that have defined recent political discourse. What began as a discussion about Reid’s controversial departure from MSNBC quickly turned into a broader clash over identity politics, race, and accountability in media.
Morgan opened the confrontation by playing a series of Reid’s recent public statements, including her assertion that she was fired in part because Americans “care more about Ukrainians than Palestinians because of their skin color,” and that Donald Trump dislikes her because she’s a Black woman. Morgan rejected both claims outright, saying, “Let’s be honest. I don’t think you were fired because of your skin color. I think you were fired because your show just got increasingly unpopular. Why play the race card?”
“You racialize everything Joy, come on!”
Piers Morgan tells Joy Reid her show got cancelled because of her viewing figures, not because she’s a black woman.
Watch more 👇
📺 https://t.co/QkW01I1fz1@piersmorgan pic.twitter.com/4qRCOgHAgm
— Piers Morgan Uncensored (@PiersUncensored) July 17, 2025
Reid responded sharply, accusing Morgan of fixating on race himself. “You literally are so fixated on trying to racialize conversations with me, Piers,” she said. But Morgan pushed back, arguing, “You racialized more conversations in your tenure at MSNBC than any host in history.”
The back-and-forth only escalated from there. Morgan accused Reid of alienating viewers by reducing complex issues to race-based narratives, while Reid fired back that Morgan was cherry-picking clips to reinforce a caricature. “You take an entire conversation I had with Marc Lamont Hill and pick the bits that you can racialize because this is your schtick,” she said. Morgan didn’t back down. “It’s not my schtick,” he replied. “It was your schtick. But people got bored with it.”
Reid, who was let go from MSNBC in February amid declining ratings, has publicly blamed systemic bias and political pressure for her ouster, though the network cited restructuring and shifting priorities in a changing media landscape. Her show, The ReidOut, had been on air for five years and was known for hard-left commentary and repeated focus on racial and gender identity issues.
🚨 Joy Reid breaks down sobbing while addressing being fired from MSNBC:
"My show had value...whether it was the Black Lives Matter issues...We need to understand 1619 as the real founding of this country...Gaza...the American people have a right to object to little babies being… pic.twitter.com/Ux5Nu1lZf5
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) February 24, 2025
Morgan also revisited past controversies, including Reid’s widely criticized blog posts from the 2000s that included homophobic content. “You’re posting on your blog that you wouldn’t watch Brokeback Mountain because you don’t want to see two male characters having sex,” Morgan said. Reid, notably, didn’t deny authorship and offered no explanation beyond a curt, “And your point is?”
The blog scandal resurfaced during her MSNBC tenure, during which Reid claimed her site had been hacked — a claim the FBI reportedly investigated, though no evidence of hacking was ever produced.
Toward the end of the interview, Reid accused Morgan of pandering to a “very white audience,” implying that the interview itself was a form of race-baiting. Morgan closed by maintaining that his critiques were based on substance, not identity, and pointed once again to Reid’s own track record of racialized commentary.